I'm Sorry
by akakurogin
Summary: [ONESHOT] Oshitari and Gakuto go to watch the Kantou finals… but exactly what is Oshitari’s purpose for going? [OshiGaku, SanaTari]


Title: I'm Sorry  
  
Pairing: OshiGaku, SanaTari  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Summary: Oshitari and Gakuto go to watch the Kantou finals… but exactly what is Oshitari's purpose for going?  
  
Genre: Romance, Angst/Drama  
  
WC: 1124  
  
Disclaimer: So NOT mine.  
  
Notes: Was trying to explain why I liked Oshitari to a friend. Me: "He's so slashable with anyone!" Her: "Right." Me: "Really! Just name any school." Her: "Fudomine, St. Rudolph, Yamabuki, Rikkai." Me: "Um… Shinji, Mizuki…oooooo! Yukimura! And Yanagi! Maybe Yagyuu? And OH! Wouldn't Oshitari and SANADA be just THE FUNNIEST THING!?" Her: o.0? "You're weird."  
  
Though I must apologize - it's not humorous at all.  
  
-~-~-~-  
  
He had gone to watch the finals round between Seigaku and Rikkai not for the sake of watching tennis, but to see Rikkai.  
  
-~-  
  
"Ne, Yuushi, don't you think their prodigy has improved since he played you, even?"  
  
Vaguely aware that Gakuto was asking him something, he stopped staring at the bench and turned to his partner and current lover. "Hm? Did you say something?"  
  
"Yuushi! What's wrong with you? You've been out of it since we got here! Don't tell me you're still on a high from the BJ I gave you before we came?"  
  
Gakuto never did learn to keep his mouth shut or his voice low, even where people from all over the Kantou region were within hearing distance. But Oshitari didn't care too much about that this time.  
  
"No, it's not that. Gakuto, let's just watch this match, OK? I want to see if Fuji really has improved. And Ge…Echizen, too, afterwards." Oh shit, what was he on that day? He nearly let slip Genichirou's first name – a name he shouldn't have the right to call, for all that his lover and the rest of Hyoutei knew.  
  
"Gechizen? Who's that?"  
  
"I meant Echizen."  
  
"Yea, but you wouldn't make a mistake like that. Are you OK, Yuushi?"  
  
"YES! Just a bit distracted by the game. Now be quiet for awhile and let's watch the game." By now, Fuji had already beat Kirihara, and the stands were, well they wee rowdy, for sure. The finals of the Kantou Taikai was tied as two games each, and first string singles was to be played out by the well-known vice captain of Rikkai, Sanada Genichirou, and the oft-heard super rookie of Seigaku, Echizen Ryoma.  
  
-~-  
  
Sanada… Genichirou. The person he had come to see, really. He didn't come for the sake of watching the game, like the other Hyoutei regulars had. He was there because he hadn't seen Genichirou since that one winter day, when he had gone to Kanagawa to surprise his then-boyfriend, only to find that Sanada and the other Rikkai tennis club regulars were in the hospital, because their up-and-coming captain had collapsed in the middle of a practice round. He'd waited around Genichirou's house that day, as a "friend" from Hyoutei here to pay a visit during break.  
  
But Genichirou called to say he wasn't coming back that night. He'd sent the others home, but he was staying with Yukimura in the hospital, at least until he woke up. Sanada senior had let Oshitari talk to him, and Genichirou, surprised for but a second, calmly told him to go home. And that had outraged him – he hadn't made the trip to Kanagawa just to be told to go home! So instead, he had gone to the hospital, accused Genichirou of infidelity, of having only been playing him. It wasn't until he was on the train back to Tokyo that he realized that the tired Genichirou hadn't spoken a word during his rant, neither in denial nor in acquiescence. In fact, Genichirou hadn't spoken a word after the initial "Yuushi? I thought I told you to go home."  
  
He cringed whenever thinking about how childish he'd acted then. Genichirou had just been worried about his friend, nothing more. It was even worse when spring came and went, and they were third years, and news went around about who'd been chosen as captain and vice captain for the various big name teams, and he'd realized that not only had Genichirou been worried about a friend, he had only been starting his role as Rikkai's vice captain, by watching out for his captain-to-be. But that wasn't it - no, of course not. Word got around the circuit that Rikkai's captain, Yukimura Seiichi, was very ill – more ill than he had thought, had imagined – ill enough that rumors said he wouldn't be playing, at least competitively, for the rest of his junior high career, maybe even for the rest of his life. No, he had been stupidly jealous, like a spoiled brat, and had jumped to conclusions – conclusions that had led to him breaking up with the one with whom he had been truly comfortable.  
  
-~-  
  
He had rebounded on Gakuto. But for all Hyoutei knew, his relationship with his now doubles partner was his first since he broke up with Keigo after Nationals fall of their second year. He did seem quite taken by his partner, too, most of the time. After all, Gakuto was just so … weird. Plus, it was his first time not having to fight to be seme – neither Keigo nor Genichirou were even mildly submissive. It was an interesting change of pace.  
  
That fall… he broke up with Keigo… simply because he had fallen deeply for Genichirou during Nationals. They'd first met at the Kantou finals that year, but he hadn't thought much of the second year then. It hadn't been until quarterfinals at Nationals, when he accidentally ran into Genichirou getting juice, did they uncharacteristically strike up a conversation about their team members and the finals match at Kantou. They spent a lot of time together in the following two days, and developed a close friendship. Soon after Rikkai returned to Kanagawa, Genichirou had called him up.  
  
"Will you have dinner with me tonight?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Just come outside." He had – and found Sanada Genichirou at his front door. "I couldn't help thinking about you ever since I left Tokyo. I got your address from your captain…" That day, he went out for dinner with Genichirou. Though they didn't see each other much, they talked every night. When he had visited Genichirou that fateful winter day… it had only been his second trip to Kanagawa. They had only been together such a short time… their relationship had been so young… maybe that was why he was so insecure. Maybe… maybe that was why he hadn't trusted Genichirou enough.  
  
-~-  
  
And maybe that was why he was now back here, in the very stands where he had first seen Genichirou play his astounding tennis. Except this time, Genichirou wasn't just some tennis player to learn from. This time, he couldn't just watch the capped boy play with simple awe and respect. There were so many more emotions involved this time… there was a past this time… there was pain this time.  
  
And pain, well, pain hurts.  
  
A lot.  
  
Especially if you know that you caused it because of your own stupidity. And if you know that it won't ever go away.  
  
-~-  
  
He watched as Sanada Genichirou picked up his racket, shrugged off his jacket, stepped onto the tennis court. His chest tightened. His eyes remained as cold and calculating as they'd always been. And his soul…his soul cried for the love it lost.  
  
-~-~-~-  
  
Notes: I'm thinking of rewriting this (it started as a drabble, honest!) into a two-part fic, instead of the grey-area-somewhere-between-one-shot-and-drabble that it currently is, and involve some of Atobe & Sanada's feelings also. Thoughts?  
  
InuiYanagi to be finished tonight! 


End file.
